After User Complaints, Twitter Backtracks Changes To Its Blocking Function

A revolt by users has forced Twitter to revert recent changes it made to its blocking functionality just hours after they were implemented. There were some well-thought-out analogies for the move:

This tweet's author, Ed Casey, followed it up with another pearl.

The original method prevented blocked users from sending tweets to users and reading their feed, while yesterday's change allowed the blocked user to do this, and instead, their activity was rendered invisible to the person who had done the blocking.

According to Reuters, the firm held an emergency meeting on Thursday night after a wave of complaints. An announcement on the firm's blog by Michael Sippey, Twitter's VP of product, said this: "Earlier today, we made a change to the way the 'block' function of Twitter works. We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users—we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe. Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect."

My writing career has taken me all round the houses over the past decade and a half--from grumpy teens and hungover rock bands in the UK, where I was born, via celebrity interviews, health, tech and f…